Taking the class on a walk to observe shapes in buildings around town allows the children to observe and photograph various city structures to use as references in the classroom. While on the walk, supplying students with geometric shape cutouts will help them to find similar shapes in buildings, street signs and cars. Once back in the classroom, posting the city photos in the block area will inspire the students to re-create their favorite structures from the walk. Take pictures of their creations to display with the photos of the buildings that inspired them.
Children will gain a stronger awareness of geometric shapes by configuring them into artistic sculptures. Ask parents to donate materials for this activity, such as tissue boxes, empty thread spools, paper towel tubes, buttons and plastic container lids. Working with small groups of children, encourage students to arrange the materials to make unique sculptures. As the children work, asking questions about which shapes fit best together or how they can alter shapes to make new ones will prompt them to explore the shapes further.
Building towers in the block area provides children with interactive exposure to shapes in the classroom. Preschool teachers should sit and build with students to not only provide supervision, but also to guide them in a lesson on shapes. As the students build, directing them in finding new ways to fit shapes together for block towers and prompting them to stack the blocks vertically, create wide towers, or build with all rectangles guides the learning process. Using ways to create new shapes, such as putting four rounded triangles together to make a circle or fitting squares together to make a rectangle will foster reasoning skills in children.
Demonstrate to the students how to make a pyramid using one square as a base and four triangles as sides to help them better understand the formation of structures. By using a paper cut out of this design to create a pyramid, the preschoolers practice building and manipulating shapes. The students can also work with magna-tiles, plastic magnetized blocks, to build three-dimensional pyramids. A class project using cardboard pieces to construct a large pyramid that students can paint and decorate will provide social interaction and a sense of community in the classroom.